In this conversation, Dave Asprey and Alexis Roso discuss the use of Timeline Nutrition’s urolithin A supplement (Timeline) as a tool for enhancing cellular health through autophagy and mitophagy. They explore practical stacking ideas, such as combining spermidine and fasting with exercise, and consider optimal timing for taking Timeline, likely during or at the end of a fast. The core of the discussion centers on a recent four‑month clinical trial where participants aged 40‑65 took 500 mg of Timeline daily. The study reported increased leg‑muscle strength and a reduction in plasma acyl‑carnitine levels, indicating improved mitochondrial function both locally in muscle and systemically. The conversation also references earlier research showing early mitochondrial dysfunction in adults over 40, providing a rationale for targeting this age group. A head‑to‑head bioavailability study compared a Timeline sachet to an 18‑oz glass of pomegranate juice, revealing a six‑fold higher urolithin A exposure and a higher conversion rate (≈40 % of participants converted from juice versus near‑universal conversion from the supplement). The speakers highlight the convenience and precise dosing of the 500 mg sachet versus the impractical volume of pomegranate juice needed for comparable effects. Overall, the dialogue blends scientific findings with practical advice for integrating Timeline into health‑optimizing routines.
Chapters
Bulletproof radio, a state of high performance. In the meantime, I'm really intrigued at the idea of stacking things that add autophagy or mitophagy. And so the idea of what if I did spermidine and I did timeline together during a fast and then exercising at the end of the fast and things like that. Of course, there aren't studies about this stuff yet. A lot of people are saying, how do I get more out of an activity that I'm already doing? And so I'm already in my mind going, all right, what's my timing going to look like for this? And it seems like either during or at the end of a fast is when I'm going to start using timeline, because that'll probably be more convenient anyway.
Yeah, I was going to say in terms of how you use it and the actual effects. We were speaking about one of our earlier clinical studies, but more recently we've done a clinical study that was four months long where people were taking timeline on a, on a daily basis over a period of four months at 500 milligrams. And what we saw was an improvement in leg muscle strength after that four month period. We also did similar types of tests that we did in our initial study where we looked at biomarkers not only in the muscle, but also in the plasma. And we saw an impact there, particularly on acyl carnitines, a decrease in acyl carnitines over time, showing an impact on mitochondrial function. Basically, as acyl carnitine levels are higher, that's indicative of mitochondria that are less healthy. And so as they go down lower, that that's a sign that your mitochondrial function is improving. The fact that you see that in your plasma is an indication that there's something happening not only at the level of muscle that we saw when we did these biopsies in the leg, but also more systemically in the body. Of course, all of our cells, except for our red blood cells, contain mitochondria. But so far the focus of our research has been on the skeletal muscle and on your muscle function and strength. And so I see in the future a possibility to examine other potential beneficial effects of timeline in other areas of health.
So that study that you referenced was on people aged 40 to 65 years, which is kind of cool because the research that was backing a lot of what I did with Superhuman and even a lot of what I'm doing with FAST this way it says everyone over age 40 has early onset mitochondrial dysfunction. That's Frank Shallenberg's research which is based on measuring oxygen consumption efficiency. So it's very clean. We don't know exactly what's going on, but we know what goes in and what comes out so we can tell they're not working the way they used to. So you targeted the group where everyone has an issue, which is pretty neat. And then you found that they got stronger leg muscles after four months of taking it on a daily basis. 500 milligrams. What's the dose? That's in timeline. Is that the same dose?
Yes, we've included 500 milligrams in our daily dose in each of these little caches. And so yeah, so this gives you a very convenient way of getting the product. Now if you, if you say, well okay, I'd prefer to get it through and you were referring to natural ways. And so is Navindra through a pomegranate. Well, you'd have to have a lot more pomegranate juice a day. In fact, what we've recently this year completed a clinical study where we did a head to head comparison with one glass of, of pomegranate juice and one sachet of thyme lime mixed into a yogurt. And we looked at the bioavailability of urolithin A in the blood during the first 24 hours after taking several time points and blood draws. And what we saw was that there was about a six fold higher level of urolithin A. Looking at this sort of area under the curve for that first 24 hours when you take one sachet of thymeline versus 18 ounce glass of pomegranate juice. The other thing that we found was that those people taking pomegranate juice, we only saw about 40% of people who were actually converting. And this was sort of, you know, you had low converters and mid converters and high converters where all the rest, you know, weren't able to do that conversion. So which really highlights the value of one, you don't want to be taking, you know, six glasses of pomegranate juice every day. And you know, if you can take one little sachet that contains 500 milligrams of urolithin A, you're getting a really precise dose that's been scientifically and clinically evaluated in humans to give you a physiological benefit. We're really excited to be able to do that and offer this to people in a convenient manner. Sa.
